RI Librarians Hope for Reinstatement

Elementary school librarian Barbara Ashby recently wrote a letter to Peter McWalters, the state's commissioner of elementary and secondary education, urging him to reconsider a September request by Johnson to waive the two-librarian requirement. "This [waiver] implies that our schools no longer need qualified librarians because technology can take the place of an information specialist," wrote Ashby, a librarian at George J. West Elementary School. Johnson says she hadn't known about the state's education requirement.

"I find it difficult to believe that [Johnson] was not aware of the 1963 basic education plan," says Mickie Bonneau, whose position was cut from Hope High School. Hope, along with Mount Pleasant and Central high schools, which each have more than 1,500 students, have been operating with one media specialist since the beginning of the school year, and the three axed librarians have been given jobs at nearby elementary schools. If McWalters decides to support the waiver, a petition will be made to the Board of Regents of Elementary and Secondary Education, the body that initially drafted the two-librarian requirement. The state has given permission for the high schools to operate with one librarian for 60 school days. Eight years ago, nearby Westerly School District was denied a request for a similar waiver.